Who Will Publish Armored Core 5 Overseas? Answer: Namco Bandai

Looks like Namco Bandai and From Software are best buds. On top of grabbing the Western rights to Dark Souls, Namco Bandai picked Armored Core 5 too. Dengeki broke the news in this week’s issue.

The Armored Core series has an interesting overseas publisher history. Sony Computer Entertainment America introduce the West to the series by releasing the very first Armored Core game for PsOne. Niche publisher Agetec handled the PlayStation 2 iterations in North America. Sega stepped in for Armored Core 4 about a year after the two companies worked on Chromehounds. Ubisoft snapped up Armored Core for Answer while both parties were working on Tenchu: Shadow Assassins. Namco Bandai is the latest company to pick up From Software’s titles.

Armored Core 5 is slated for release this year on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Is this what they mean by keeping development in Japan? Seems like a smart business move.

Hraesvelgr

Maybe they realized that publishing Japanese games that don’t sell massive numbers isn’t really any worse than publishing other games that don’t sell any better or worse.

tubers

Yay! A mech game with a lot of customizations xD I wish it will have an easy option for campaign xD Im really bad with Armored Core games but really enjoy them,, I just wish I could finish all of the campaign via an easier difficulty setting :D

Can’t wait!

And please release Armored Core 5 Portable for the NGP :D This time, it’s gonna be a blast with a 2nd nub! I loved AC Last Raven Portable but losing a 2nd nub really held it back for me. It was still fun though.

badmoogle

Really looking forward for more details about this one.From what i’ve read so far it seems like they’re going for a new direction…From Software is on the rise lately so i hope they really push it to the next level.After all AC is still their flagship title.

krokounleashed

Oh a new Armored Core, will it be good this time?

Xeahnort

Screw Armored Core, I want Another Century’s Episode:R

Neckbear

Heh, that one’s a publishing hell, so I wouldn’t even dream of having it overseas, sadly.

Even when it would be glorious.

Kirbysuperstar2

Sorry, but as long as an SRW/ACE game has Macross in it, it has ABSOLUTELY NO CHANCE EVER of coming out in America. Which is just slightly up from “probably no bloody chance”.

Also you really don’t want ACE:R. It’s not..very good.

Hraesvelgr

Yes, this. Even without the Macross issues, it would be costly to localize because of all the various series it contains. The licensing of all of that would probably not be worth the profit they’d make off of it, which would be likely very little.

Xeahnort

I thought Gundam/Macross/Code Geass/Aura Battler Dunbine were licenced in western countries.

http://www.facebook.com/Robborboy Paul ‘Chinny’ Chinn

They are. However the companies that have them are all different, and it would be a nightmare of red tape to get them all to agree to some form of contract.

Barrit

Well if it makes you feel better, even though I’m sure it’s probably just a screw up in Gamestop’s database, they have the game listed in their PowerupRewards listing for some reason. Then again they have Tales of Graces F, Tales of Vesperia (PS3) as well.. although it sounds like we will be getting Tales of Graces F afterall.

Exkaiser

No you don’t.

In fact, you really don’t want any of the ACE games. They’re not very good.

Neckbear

Welp, seems like Namco Bandai will be getting some of my money this year…

Tales of Graces f? Project Dark? Armored Core 5?

Oh Namco Bandai, you guys, you.

http://tristsantithesis.tumblr.com/ Tsunayoshi Sawada

Well this may be my first armored core. Whats the gameplay generally like?

http://www.youtube.com/user/EnvyMizuhashi Garyuu

You’ve played some mech games like Robotech or several gundam games, right? It’s like that, except Armored Core is much more fast paced. You can customize your mech however you want so long as it’s not overweight. lol There are plenty of difficult missions that vary on which type of Armored Core you want to use. For example, you’re about to go on a mission that requires you to destroy a few giant mechs, build an Armored with dual-wielding laser blades (that’s right) and get the job done.

So if you’re interested in that kind of game, I suggest buying Armored 4 and Armored Core for Answer first.

Exkaiser

“except Armored Core is much more fast paced.”

Only Armored Core 4 and 4A are fast paced.

While they have mentioned that some of the “speed” elements of 4-4A remain, it’s no longer a focus. AC5′s focus will be “violence.”

My prediction is that the average speed is going to be between 3 and 4. Not plodding, but not zippy, either.

http://www.youtube.com/user/EnvyMizuhashi Garyuu

I still thought the Armored Core 3 games were a bit fast paced even though you’re mostly on ground level. But yeah, I think AC5 will be in between those speeds.

Code

See this is what kind of knocked me out of the air when it came to Armored Core, I casually played the series on/off (I know just saying that is going against the grain of what AC even is opo) but Armored Core 4 and 4A’s speed made me terribly motion sick. I’m really hoping they’ll go back to a more grounded speed, with more focus on environments, with hopefully less redundant boosting opo;

Exkaiser

Yeah, it definitely seems like they’re going to more grounded, environment-based combat in AC5, so it looks like it’ll be more your speed!

Ah, man, not having any next-gen systems is starting to hurt, since I’m really excited for AC5! I was only able to play AC4 and 4A because my little brother has a 360.

http://www.youtube.com/user/EnvyMizuhashi Garyuu

Just nag your brother to get AC5. It shouldn’t be too hard. :)

Caligula

I would lend you mine since I -never- use it, but then I remembered my little brother’s body has become fused to the console.

LynxAmali

>_> We won’t be getting it.

Remember Mobile Ops: The One Year War, which even had preorders up and then was delayed for two years before saying it wouldn’t be getting it?

They’ll do the same with this. >_>
I’ve lost faith in BAMCO and mech games. (See Super Robot Wars W, which SHOULD have come over. Just that Bandai/BAMCO was stubborn as hell.)

Exkaiser

SRW W couldn’t have come over even though it was practically made for it. It’s just never going to happen. It wouldn’t have made any money.

And the Banpresto subsection, not the larger mass of Bandai-Namco Games, has the final say on SRW. They’re basically the same as they were before they were absorbed into BNG and they’re allowed to be mostly autonomous because they consistently make money, unlike most of the other divisions of BNG.

Caligula

Um, but SRW W has a ton of copyrighted characters. Namco would have had a nightmare with both acquiring and paying for the rights to the characters so they could even publish the game over here. The legal costs would probably negate the minuscule (if any) profit they could eke out from localization. It’d be a waste of their time.

http://www.youtube.com/user/EnvyMizuhashi Garyuu

WOOOOOOO YEAH!!!! One of my favorite series is being published by freakin Bamco. I can forgive them (even a little) for making us wait on Tales games! Something tells me we’re going to see as many commercials as Enslaved, hopefully. But who cares?! Armored Core 5 will come! Day 1 Baby! Day 1!

http://tristsantithesis.tumblr.com/ Tsunayoshi Sawada

Woot this excitement, is catchy dude!!!!

KyoyaHibari

More great news…(sarcasm) now Scamco holds Dark Souls, its in good hands (not), well as long as it comes here i guess that’s fine same with AC5

Exkaiser

I still don’t understand why you people call them “Scamco.”

What scams have they ever perpetrated?

PurpleDoom

Usually that’s in reference to the very high price of DLC in Japan… not technically a “scam” (and those prices are pretty normal in Japan) but people will take any opportunity to hate.

http://honorless.net honorless

Not really the high price of DLC so much as the amount of it. IIRC, if you were to buy all the DLC for Vesperia PS3, you’d be paying almost the price of the game over again. And it’s mostly stuff like costumes, which are easy money and would have been included in the game before the DLC era. (Let’s not even go into all the DLC for im@s.)

On that note, they also seem to be testing the limits of their fanbase when it comes to the prices of Tales games. Graces was already somewhat expensive for a Wii game at over 7300 yen, and Graces F was 1000 yen more. The price increases have made me wonder if Xillia will be 8500+ yen, heh.

KyoyaHibari

Not so much “scams” but we use the “scam” because 1) It rhymes with Namco/Bamco and 2) They hate us for some reason and won’t bring over anymore Tales games, mostly just mainstream games like Tekken and this, and various other reasons, so its a way to sort of dubiously entitle them

Exkaiser

The “some reason” is the part where the fandom is really quite small and sales have only gone down since the abnormal success of Tales of Symphonia. The fact that they focus on more mainstream games is because they know they’ll sell better.

But I would simmer off on the Tales butthurt, because I’m 80% certain at this point that they’re localizing Tales of Grace F. It seems they’ve changed their game plan as of late- Armored Core 5 is anything but the million-seller that they were looking for last year with Enslaved and Majin.

im glad that namco has been publishing from software games but what about their own games?

i would like to see more Super Robot games. starting with the sequel to frontier; exceed. and “Tales” games :P

http://tristsantithesis.tumblr.com/ Tsunayoshi Sawada

lol dude what? These are the only two games Namco has published from From Software, have you gone into the future? And based on the response from the us playstation blog, perhaps there is a namco bandai event this week where they will reveal what they are bringing out to the US on tomorrow?

WonderSteve

You can forget about Super Robot Wars. If getting Tales is as difficult as flying to the moon, getting SRW would be journey across the galaxy.

PrinceHeir

umm i only said they’re publishing From Software games. i did not make it like it’s all they’ve been doing all these years.

@WonderSteve

ehh you can never know :D

actually it seems Namco plans on localizing both Vesperia and Grace F on the west base in these screens

unbelievable, just as when i was about to give up on them they do this.

http://tristsantithesis.tumblr.com/ Tsunayoshi Sawada

Perhaps what you wrote. unfortunately, didnt convey the meaning that you intended in your head, by saying “im glad that namco has been publishing from software games but what about their own games?” leads us to believe that they have published numerous titles, from from software continually. If you had used it in the present tense, then it would make more sense and convey that meaning that you are now just revealing. Day 1 for both Baby, Day 1!!!!

And speak of the devil incarnate, they are really bringing out Vesperia and Graces F? I hope they are both for the PS3. It will be amazing to get to experience those games. 2.2.2011 can not come fast enough, I will just stay on their facebook page all day and reload it for their announcement from their press event thing…

PrinceHeir

oh my mistake, i should have made clear that i only said this since they’ve been publishing alot of games to europe.

Namco since to be improving but it’s still not confirmed so i won’t expect anything until it’s confirmed

http://www.facebook.com/Robborboy Paul ‘Chinny’ Chinn

Namco Bandai publishing AC5 in the west? Atleast it is getting a western release. While I’ll miss the frantic pace of AC4 and ACfA, missile spam, circled and shooting said missiles, I am hopeful for what AC5 brings.

Naturally another reboot of the story. But I am hoping for something in the line of older Armored Cores, but not controlling so terribly as they did.

And I hope to God they do not brink back the “Raven” moniker. That horse has been beat. Now let it rest.

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